How Old is Your Dog in Human Years

Nola the Golden Retriever puppy playing

While we always used seven dog years to one human year, that isn’t as accurate for some dogs, especially when they’re young but things change. The size of the dog matters a lot when they get older. In other words, when they are young, smaller dogs age more quickly, but when they get older, larger dogs age really fast.

Nola as a Puppy

This is Nola at the age of a month and a half. So, i you look at the chart, you can see that the first year compares to fifteen human years. When she grew up she was over 50 pounds so she’s in the large dog category.

When we do the math 15 human years / 12 months * 1.5 months old, so we can estimate her age as a human at 2 and a quarter years old. You can see that a six month old puppy will behave like a 7 and a half year old human.

Of course, these are all broad estimates so you need to take it with a grain of salt. Consequently, if you’ve ever raised a dog you can see how these behaviors fit in.

Here she is at Three and a Half

She compares to a 30 year old in human years. She has always enjoyed her sticks. Sometimes they get closer to logs.

Nola is getting oleder, note the grey on her muzzle

Now Nola is Getting Older

Nola is seven in February, 2022 so she’s going on to 50 in human years. Meanwhile, at human 50, she is still quite energetic, although she doesn’t have the stamina she used to, just like when I turned 50.

Anyway, I put her on Cosaquin a couple of years ago for her joint health and at her age I think it’s helping quite a lot. The link points to an Amazon product that Nola just loves. These Cosaquin chews are a fish flavor that she finds quite special. Too, it’s a very reasonable price.

For example, before I started giving her Cosaquin, she was slowing down quite a lot. After we started, she picked right up again.

I feel that dogs don’t live nearly long enough to begin with, so I try to make the time they’re with me count.

Chart for Human Years by Dog’s Age

Dog’s age in yearsSmall (under 20 lbs.)Medium (21 to 50)Large (51 to 100)Ginormous (over 100)
115151512
224242422
328282831
432323238
536363645
640424559
744475056
848515564
952566171
1056606679
1160657286
1264697793
13687482100
14727888107
15768393114
16808799121

There is some very interesting information on Wikipedia regarding aging, and life expectancy by breed.

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